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The company I co-founded has closed multiple rounds with Innovation Works based on us continuing to make progress. I also completely disagree with the characterization of Frank and his team. We work with Jim Jen and he has been extremely value add over the life of our firm. Jim does have operating experience with multiple Silicon Valley start-ups as a product manager. This has given him good perspective on the evolution of products at the early stage.

In addition, I've found Matt Harbaugh to be a great resource for us. He has helped us work through some important financial modeling exercises and been an excellent source of national VC leads and product feedback.

I think a more accurate assessment of Innovation Works would be that they are simply an early stage fund. They do have a focus on the Pittsburgh region, so they have a term that taxes you very heavily if you try to leave the region. So if you're going to leave, think hard before taking their money.

However, they are helpful and relatively aggressive about supporting those companies that are part of the region.

One other thing to keep in mind if you do end up working with Innovation Works. They have a fantastic MBA internship program for their portfolio companies. They cover 2/3 of the cost and do a great job helping you ID good candidates. We've used this program for multiple summers and it's been extremely valuable.